Victorian Christmas at Reitz Home Museum

16 decorators work together to transform Reitz Home

SAMANTHA OWENS/ SPECIAL TO COURIER & PRESS
A Christmas tree, with carefully wrapped presents placed underneath, sits in the library of the Reitz Home Museum in Evansville in preparation for the Victorian Christmas tours Friday. Jim Lang was in charge of decorating the library, as each designer had an individual room to focus on.

SAMANTHA OWENS/ SPECIAL TO COURIER & PRESS
Linda Folz (left), takes the Nativity scene manger from Joan Baker (right), as they put finishing touches on a room in the Reitz Home Museum on Friday. The Reitz Home Museum Victorian Christmas tours begin today and run through December 31.

photos by SAMANTHA OWENS / SPECIAL TO the COURIER & PRESS
Juanita Hayes takes a string of gold beads off a Christmas tree in the downstairs hallway of the Reitz Home Museum while decorating with other Ivy Tech interior design students.

Two lessons on decorating come from the transformation of the Reitz Home for the 33rd annual Victorian Christmas.

"You don't always have to decorate in the same fashion every year," said Andrew Cutini, the interior designer who coordinated the annual décor. "You don't have to put the tree in the same corner of the same room and the garland on the mantel in just the same way."

The second lesson is "you don't have to use a lot to make a big statement," Cutini said.

Liddy West, who decorated the Reitz Home dining room, "draped gold fabric from the chandelier to the corners of the table," Cutini explained. "It is elegant and a showstopping centerpiece."

At least 16 different decorators had a hand in this year's décor. The museum will open from 1 to 3 p.m. today for a preview.

The interior design class at Ivy Tech also helped with the decorating.

Reitz Home executive director Matt Rowe asked decorators to be authentic to the Victorian era this year. He wanted the decorations to reflect the style and materials that the Reitz family would have used.

"No plastic and glitter," Rowe said. "Instead, the designers have carefully chosen antique ornaments in keeping with the period."

Instead of a specific theme for Victorian Christmas this year, Rowe and Cutini assigned a color to each room, ranging from white to burgundy, pinks, golds and blues.

"It offers a visual variation to all the traditional greens and reds," Rowe said. "The result is spectacular but subtle."

Cutini decorated the drawing room in whites, including white poinsettias and white ribbons.

"It is the largest room in the house, with mirrors on each end reflecting the chandelier back and forth," Cutini said. "The challenge was how to decorate it without taking away from the room's architecture."

Rowe said one-third of the annual visitors to the Reitz Home visit in December for a Victorian Christmas.

This year Rowe will give some of them a chance to see what he sees each night when he turns off the lights. "Candlelight" tours will be offered from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 30 and Dec. 21. Visitors won't be using actual candles; the chandeliers will be turned off to allow a view of the home with only the twinkling of the holiday lights.

Fifty cents of each ticket will benefit the Santa Clothes Club, Rowe said. It continues the philanthropy that was important to the Reitz family.